Ren
Ren '''is Aoba Seragaki's AllMate and part of Aoba's existence that maintained the balance between Aoba and the other entity in Aoba. He is voiced by Takeuchi Ryouta. History Ren is an entity born from Aoba's power, Scrap. His role is to maintain the balance between Aoba and the other entity (the desire to destroy) inside him. He would often talk back and forth with Desire, often rebuffing his negativity, causing Aoba to not speak at all in reality as a child and simply listen to both Ren and Desire inside of his head. Because Ren can only influence Aoba indirectly, later on his voice slowly became unable to reach him. Out of worry, Ren decided to separate himself from Aoba and transferred his consciousness to an old Allmate which Aoba had picked up off the street to fix. As a result, Ren was able to physically influence Aoba through the allmate's body. Because of the accident in Rhyme that occured to them 10 years prior to the main storyline, both Aoba and Ren lost their memories. Consequently, Ren forgot everything about the accident and how he was originally a part of Aoba, fully believing he was indeed an ordinary allmate. Appearance As an allmate, Ren takes the appearance of a small black Japanese Spitz (often mistaken for a Pomeranian). He has dark blue eyes to compliment his fur which is just as dark of a blue and is always seen with his tongue sticking out. Ren wears a collar with silver studs and a small syringe charm that Nain had given Aoba hooked at the center of it. He is often called as a "bundle of blue fur" due to his fluffy coat. Ren is one of the older allmate models and is always seen with Aoba, constantly monitoring his health and safety. During Rhyme battles, he takes on the appearance of a young man due to his avatar settings. He sports dark blue hair reminiscent of his fur with a headdress that covers his eyes, and a large dark blue cape covering most of his body down to his knees. He wears light grey pants with a black belt and blue boots that look similar to his cape. He is tall and has a very pale complexion. Without his cape, he is shown to be very muscular and has multiple black tattoos that range from the sides of his face to his shoulder blades and down his arms. His ears are slightly pointed and they bear a large ring on either of them. He also has "tender amber eyes" as described by Aoba and bears sharp canine teeth. In Ren's good ending in both the first game and in Re:Connect, Ren takes up the appearance of Sei. However, due to the time of being inside of his body, he begins to resemble a much more younger version of his Rhyme appearance than that of Sei, which was something he mentioned would happen as his consciousness became permanently implemented into Sei's body. In Ren's bad ending, due to both the mechanical virus spreading through his system combined with the anger and despair over the belief that Aoba has never really loved him and never will, Ren's appearance becomes highly animalistic. His canine teeth turn into complete fangs and his eyes literally glow with rage. His tattoos also begin to spread over his body, resembling fur and his hands become sharp with claws and like that of a werewolf. Much like Koujaku in his bad end, Ren becomes so animalistic to the point where he loses the ability to properly speak and instead growls and snarls. Despite taking the form of a small, cute dog a majority of the time, Ren's most notable asset is his surprisingly deep and masculine voice, deeper than even Usui's. Personality Ren is shown to be very mature among the other allmates (like Tori) and even to an extent, humans as well. He is very passive in most conversations, usually taking things literally and misunderstanding certain sayings leaving Aoba to explain something in another light. He maintains a calm demeanor throughout the entire game, even during fights, but this usually breaks when Aoba is in sudden danger. Ren is also very caring about those around him. He and Beni share a casual friendship due to Aoba and Koujaku getting along and even communicates with Tori at minimum points. When Aoba confides in Ren about the men in his life in their respective routes, Ren usually talks to Aoba about them with a neutral tone and understanding to better help Aoba get through with their personalities. As Ren becomes more and more human in Re:Connect, he begins to smile and even laugh on occasion. Now beginning to experience emotions more clearly as a physical being rather than an entity, Ren also becomes flustered and embarassed easily, especially around Aoba due to the fact that he still maintains his dog-like habits from when he was an allmate (holding things in his mouth, smelling objects to understand their scent, etc.). Story Common Route (under construction) Ren's Route '''SPOILERS AND 18+ CONTENT AHEAD! Ren's route is available after completing Koujaku, Noiz, Mink and Clear's route. Ren's route is known as the secret route due to that Ren's route explaining the whole story.(route under construction) Good Ending Succeeding with Scrap, the screen breaks to show Ren. Ren tells him that he's always been with Aoba as his role is to protect Aoba and to maintain the balance between Aoba and the destructive entity in him. After finding out that Aoba had lost control and became unstable, such as the battles in Rhyme in the past, Ren's voice could not reach him in the end because his existence was only in Aoba's mind. Ren made up the decision to appeal to him physically when Aoba picks up an abandoned AllMate on the streets, converting his own consciousness into the All Mate, which eventually became Ren in the AllMate dog form. After the Rhyme incident, both Aoba and Ren had their memories wiped out (by Virus and Trip), as well as Ren forgetting his existence as part of Aoba. After destroying Sei, Aoba accepts his other personality once and for all. Since Aoba has determined Ren as a different entity from himself, Ren was allowed to stay. Ren and Aoba share an intimate moment at the shore. Aoba feels lonely that he and Ren could not have these kinds of moments in the real world since Ren can only appear human in his consciousness and Rhyme. Ren assures Aoba that even though he won't be with him, he'll still be beside him as an Allmate like it always has been. Aoba and Ren are both taken away from Aoba's consciousness. Aoba has a recollection of what his dad told him in the past and he is woken up in the real world. Aoba is happy to see Ren but is immediately taken aback when he realizes Ren reverted back to his Allmate settings. Unable to cope with the sudden loss, Aoba cries whilst tightly hugging "Ren". A year has passed and Aoba is still at Heibon's working regularly. His grandmother has finally revealed much of Aoba's mysterious past and how he came across his parents. Suddenly he receives a phone call from the Midorijima General Hospital about his older brother Sei. Aoba can hardly believe the news yet he feels as though it could not be true since Sei was destroyed. Even though he felt unsure, deep inside he just had to do it. After telling his grandmother about Sei, Aoba made his way to Midorijima General Hospital. As stood in front of the entrance, he receives a game application from his coil. The princess and the knight finally meet and a present is shown. Aoba wonders who could give such a well timed message and doubts. Aoba is then escorted to the room where Sei is. Sei has already been there for three months and he was asleep all the time. The nurse slowly remove the bandages covering his face. After a while, Aoba comes to recognize the eyes this person had. A tender amber. Aoba is pulled closer and his cheeks are licked. Aoba realizes; this habit could only belong to one person. Ren. Aoba figured out what the message was trying to tell, the last present Sei wanted to give to him was Ren. Aoba cries as he nears Ren and reads a mouthed "Aoba". Aoba places his forehead on Ren's and finally says "Welcome home." Bad Endings Ren's route has two bad endings. One revolves around Virus and Trip while the other revolves around Ren. Bad Ending 1 During the encounter against Virus and Trip, Aoba is unable to fight back using his voice and subdued. Aoba wakes up finding himself in an unfamiliar room with Virus and Trip. They mention to Aoba how they initially were going to take Aoba to Toue, but since Toue already had Sei, they decided to keep Aoba for themselves as they say they just like interesting and fun things. Aoba is alarmed and knows that he should resist and escape. Virus tells Aoba that humans are adaptable creatures and soon Aoba will be accustomed to both of them. Aoba is knocked out, wakes up and is once again greeted by Virus and Trip. He has already been locked away for half a year as Virus and Trip do what they please with Aoba's body. They both recall how much he resisted at first, even needing to restrain him with a choker on his neck once but has grown more obedient over time. They have their way with Aoba, as usual, with their allmates joining in. Aoba cannot think clearly anymore as he's been driven mad by them. As the scene finishes, Aoba wonders when Virus and Trip will set him free but until then he wades in infinite pleasure. Bad Ending 2 Aoba fails when using Scrap on Ren, making Ren believe that he is not loved by Aoba. Aoba realises that he failed, but he cannot escape anymore and is lunged on by Ren. Aoba's senses are numb but he still feels the pain sharply. He is raped and continually eaten as Ren becomes more and more animalistic. Aoba knows that this isn't reality but he wishes it to be over, however, his voice never reaches to Ren no matter how many times Aoba calls out to him. He manages to mutter a "why" before Ren growls and the screen goes red. The screen fades into the next scene. With blood seeping out at every wound on his body, Aoba still continues to try and reach Ren despite on the verge of death. Ren eats away Aoba's body, tearing and licking at every wound like how it happened in Aoba's dream he had been having throughout the route. Relationships Koujaku Ren has a good relationship with Koujaku. Ren will often comment on Koujaku's personality and sometimes admit that he could be troublesome and irresponsible when it comes to women when Aoba becomes distraught in Flame Willow. Koujaku seems to be one of the few people Ren allows to hold him close besides Aoba, implying that Ren places great trust into him as he has not been seen to lik e being fondled or held by other characters (specifically Clear). Along with Koujaku, Ren also has a very good relationship with his allmate Beni. Beni is usually shown asking for Ren when Koujaku and Aoba meet up and Ren usually allows Beni to rest in sleep mode on his fur coat. Noiz Noiz finds Ren interesting due to the fact that he is an older model that is still being used by Aoba. While Noiz threatened Aoba about being able to easily take Ren away from him, he seemed to have been bluffing as the most he ever does is perform maintenance on Ren when he recieved critical damage and a virus during a drive-by. Noiz saves Ren from being completely overwritten by the bug much to Aoba's surprise. Noiz and Ren do not interact very much outside of the games. During the April Fool's Special, however, he trotted up to Noiz and Mink (who were sitting next to each other) and sprawled out on each of their legs to prevent them from leaving, causing the others to be amused. Ren politely asked both men to be careful not to drop him, Mink and Noiz surprisingly not moving and making sure to be careful of him. Mink Mink and Ren have a very strained realtionship at first. When Aoba asks Ren why Mink is the way he is, Ren simply responds that that is just Mink's personality and should not let it bother Aoba too much. Mink seems to have little to no regard of Ren nor Tori's being because they are "just goods" when he ordered Aoba to install a USB chip into Ren, leaving Aoba to snap back at him. However, this does not seem to bother Ren as he actually does place trust in Mink because he is convinced that if Mink has a plan, then it is guaranteed to succeed one hundred percent. Aoba is weary of Ren's agreement but eventually complies. In Mink's Re:Connect good end, Ren helps Aoba track down Mink in his home country by helping him translate around town. During Aoba and Mink's reuniting, Ren was very supportive of Aoba throughout the ordeal and kept a look out for him. It's implied both he and Mink warm up to each other much more since they are all now living together. Along with Mink, Ren and Tori also share a bond, Tori usually referring to Ren as "the blue one" and asking how he was doing when they met each other again. Mink and Ren do not interact very much outside of the games. During the April Fool's Special, however, he trotted up to Noiz and Mink (who were sitting next to each other) and sprawled out on each of their legs to prevent them from leaving, causing the others to be amused. Ren politely asked both men to be careful not to drop him, Mink and Noiz surprisingly not moving and making sure to be careful of him. Clear When they first interacted, Clear questioned Ren why he does not refer to Aoba as "Master" since he is below him, leaving Ren to explain that Aoba treats him as his equal. Due to both parties being robots, they share similar qualities about their social status regarding humans and thei usefuleness to them, particularly Aoba. In Clear's Re:Connect good end, Clear was ecstatic to see Ren again, holding and fluffing up his fur in the process, much to Ren's dismay. While Ren was happy to see Clear again as well, he offered to stay behind instead of seeing where he used to live as Tae might have been worried seeing no one around. Tae Like Aoba, Ren is very protective of Tae. He looks out for her often and will make sure she worries about Aoba as little as possible. When he reunited with her during his Re:Connect good end in Sei's body, Tae was taken back but softly welcomed both him and Sei back home. Sei Sei was aware of both Ren and the other Aoba being separated from Aoba's consciousness, but also recognized Ren had become an individual existence thanks to Aoba accepting his feelings for him and asked him to protect Aoba from then on. Once Oval Tower had collapsed, Sei had sometime transferred Ren's consciousness into his own body afterward, giving him his own physical being in reality. This was Sei's final present for Aoba, as he wished for both him and Ren to happy together. Trivia *A running gag in the games is that Ren seems to have a charm that attracts many of the characters. For example, his appearance alone causes many to cry out how adorable and fluffy he is, others desiring to hold him themselves. It seems to even work on stoic characters like Mink and Noiz as well to an extent (see Relationships). *During the bad ends of each character (except his own) in which Aoba fails Scrap, Ren's fate is left unknown in every single one. He is not shown nor referred to in any of them, the only one vaguely describing his status being Virus and Trip's in which he was left "unconscious". It's implied he is left behind in Platinum Jail, broken forever. Category:Character Category:AllMate